Poetics and Jewish Philosophy. Gershom Scholem Edition

The Jewish religious historian and philosopher Gershom Scholem (born in Berlin 1897, died in Jerusalem 1982) is not only considered the founder of the scientific study of Jewish mysticism, he also profoundly influenced Jewish studies as a whole. Furthermore, Scholem became widely known for the edition of his friend Walter Benjamin’s works and letters, which he published together with Theodor Adorno.

The Scholem collection held at the National Library of Israel, however, presents another important side of his work. Besides several of his own translations, theoretical reflections on translation, literary criticism, and theoretical pieces on poetry, the library also holds many of his own poems. The latter, whose importance becomes evident in his journal entries and letters, are testament to a ‘literary’ Scholem, one who has largely evaded scholarship. In general, his early works, which resulted from his attempts to become an author, his interest in linguistics, and his occupation with lamentations and elegies are all the more significant as they paved the way for his later scientific research into the Kabbalah. Scholem’s scholarly work thus must be thought of in conjunction with his theoretical and practical engagement with literature and poetics both in terms of a genealogical development and common subject matter. It is impossible to imagine the one without the other. Many of these works could only be found in remote places or had not previously been published. Thus, it was imperative to make them available to a broader public.

This critical edition adds Scholem’s Poetica to his Judaica. It is divided into six sections. In addition to original publications, the edition takes into account archival materials as well as Scholem’s published diaries and correspondence:

• The first section presents translations of his lamentations and poetological writings. These represented preliminary stages of Scholem’s early, metaphysically-tinged explorations of the Kabbala, which turned into more historical and philological studies once Scholem had moved to Israel.
• The second section contains translations of religious texts such as the Song of Songs, and his seminal translation of the psalms.
• The third section focusses on his linguistic theory of Hebrew, as formulated in his early critique of modern Hebrew poetry and his translations from Yiddish texts after his relocation to Israel.
• The fourth section concentrates on the two modern Hebrew authors Josef Agnon and Chajim Nachman Bialik. These writers were of great importance to Scholem, who translated a number of their works and analyzed their writing in numerous essays.
• The fifth section assembles theoretical texts on literature and literary criticism, including reflections of the author’s own aesthetic framework.
• The sixth section concludes the volume with poetry that Scholem composed over six decades. The editors' commentaries contextualize them in terms of their genesis and biography, thus making them accessible to the reader. As Scholem’s letters and diaries reveal, even poems not explicitly dedicated to a person or relationship were often implicitly addressed to specific people, or particular controversies.